Can’t make the reading but would like a signed copy of the book? Simply e-mail sales@gaystheword.co.uk putting ‘signed Significance in the subject-header. HB copies available at £29.99 (rrp £32.50)

The book:

Research has traditionally shown secondary schools to be hostile environments for LGBT youth. Boys have used homophobia to prove their masculinity and distance themselves from homosexuality. Despite these findings over the last three decades, The Declining Significance of Homophobia tells a different story.

Drawing on fieldwork and interviews of young men in three British schools, Dr. Mark McCormack shows how heterosexual male students are inclusive of their gay peers and proud of their pro-gay attitudes. He finds that being gay does not negatively affect a boy’s popularity, but being homophobic does.

Yet this accessible book goes beyond documenting this important shift in attitudes towards homosexuality: McCormack examines how decreased homophobia results in the expansion of gendered behaviors available to young men. In the schools he examines, boys are able to develop meaningful and loving friendships across many social groups. They replace toughness and aggression with emotional intimacy and displays of affection for their male friends. Free from the constant threat of social marginalization, boys are able to speak about once feminized activities without censure.

The Declining Significance of Homophobia is essential reading for all those interested in masculinities, education, and the decline of homophobia.

Mark McCormack says, ‘The erosion of homophobia in these sixth forms is not just great news for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students. Heterosexual students benefit as well. By casting off the homophobia of previous generations, young men can cuddle, hug and love without fear of reprisal’.

Praise for The Declining Significance of Homophobia, by Mark McCormack:

“Despite the remarkable changes in attitudes towards homosexuality in recent years, a continuing stream of homophobia has often been detected, especially among young men. This important book demonstrates vividly that this need not be the case… This is a heartening book that charts the profound and positive transformation now taking place in young people’s culture, and makes one optimistic for the future.”

– Jeffrey Weeks, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University, and author of The Languages of Sexuality (2011)

Goodbye to Soho by Clayton LIttlewood

(ii) ‘Goodbye to Soho’ by Clayton Littlewood

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 7pm FREE – doors 6.55pm

Venue: Gay’s the Word

Celebrating the publication of ‘Goodbye to Soho’; the follow-up to Clayton Littlewood’s hugely successful and excellent book, ‘Dirty White Boy’.

Dirty White Boy is back with more tales from the unforgettable cast of Soho characters

Business in London’s Soho is not going well and the designer menswear shop that Clayton Littlewood runs with his partner, Jorge Betancourt, is under threat.

Following on from his award-winning diary Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho, Clayton Littlewood is back, watching the hookers, the gangsters, the rent boys and following the same strange characters who make up this strangest of villages.

Will eccentric artist Raqib Shaw continue on his path to artistic immortality? Can Sue and Maggie, the Soho madams, keep the law at bay? Will ageing queens Leslie and Charlie reignite their long-lost love? What will become of Chico, the imprisoned ex–Diana Ross impersonator? And what of the Prince of Soho himself, Sebastian Horsley? Will America welcome him to its shores? Goodbye to Soho is a snapshot of modern London— a Samuel Pepys diary for the Soho subculture.

“Beautifully composed vignettes…observed by a ravenous, compassionate, amused voyeur of the first rank.” —Nicholas de Jongh (Plague Over England)

‘While the wider world may view them with fear or disdain, Clayton captures the beggar’s humanity and the hooker’s humour with warmth that can bring a lump to the throat or leave one roaring with laughter. It might sound strange to be comforted by the daily trials of prostitutes, trannies, prisoners and street sweepers, but that’s what Clayton does – brilliantly.’ (Stewart Who? Twisted)

Author Biog:

Gay’s the Word bookshop regular, Clayton Littlewood ran the Soho designer menswear store Dirty White Boy with his partner, Jorge Betancourt. His first book, Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho (a Gay’s the Word bookshop recommended read), based on his diaries kept whilst at the shop and wrote the “Soho Stories” column for The London Paper, contributing regularly to BBC Radio London. In 2009 Clayton turned the book into a play which staged at the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End alongside actor David Benson and singer Maggie K de Monde. The play returned for an extended run in 2010.